Detroitisit, in partnership with the Consulate General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Chicago, and the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Washington DC will host a Sustainable Urban Design Summit in an effort to develop creative solutions through a global yet hyperlocal virtual program in partnership with and during the globally recognized Dutch Design Week.
Winy Maas, co-founder and principal architect of MVRDV, an interdisciplinary studio that works at the intersection of architecture and urbanism is doing uber-creative urban design work around the world. Having received international acclaim for his range of urban planning and building projects, across all typologies and scales, Mass is a constant advocate for denser, greener, more attractive, and livable cities, with an approach to design, focused on user-defined, innovative, and sustainable ideas for the built environment.
Join us for a fresh discussion between Dutch and Michigan based progressive leaders working to apply sustainable urban design and circular economy applications in architecture, design, policy, development, mobility, materials sourcing, and re-thinking how cities, citizens in them, their social cohesion, and the buildings that occupy space coexist.
Representing MVRDV during the Summit, hear Fedor Bron, Associate Director’s perspective on the topics on October 19th, 2021. The Sustainable Urban Design Summit will take place virtually over Zoom on October 19th and 21st at 9:30 am EST and 15:30 CET simultaneously.
Register for your FREE space to attend the Summit on Zoom here: sustainableurbandesignsummit.com
MVRDV was established in 1993 in Rotterdam, The Netherlands by Winy Maas, Jacob van Rijs and Nathalie de Vries. MVRDV engages globally in providing solutions to contemporary architectural and urban issues. A research-based and highly collaborative design method engages experts from all fields, clients, and stakeholders in the creative process. The results are exemplary and outspoken buildings, urban plans, studies, and objects, which enable our cities and landscapes to develop towards a better future.
With additional offices in Paris and soon to be in NYC, they continue to pursue their fascination for and methodical research on density. The products of MVRDV’s unique approach to design vary, ranging from buildings of all types and sizes to urban plans and visions, numerous publications, installations, and exhibitions.
Leading into the Sustainable Urban Design Summit, Winy Maas shares here some of the firms’ philosophies and examples of how innovative, social, green architecture is changing the world.
AN OFFICE LABORATORY COMPLEX THAT COMBINES STANDARD WITH PLAYFUL SPACIOUS SPACES TO CREATE IN
Maas touches on a couple of key initiatives, saying that the firm focuses greatly on temperature control and air quality by altering the built environment with design-driven sustainable approaches.
Density
Of density, he says,
We believe strongly in the value of density to prevent the land-consuming sprawl of cities around the world. We also believe in a number of principles for creating a quality living environment including diversity, freedom, sustainability, happiness, and communal space, and we apply these principles from neighborhood developments to entire cities.
One example is Bordeaux France where MVRDV has developed very small, narrow streets and cut the roofs of buildings in such a way that shadows are created to keep the city cool in the summer. Conversely, the streets are completely white to hold heat in the winter. The plantation contributes to evaporation air filtration. In this way, they’ve moved density toward a sustainable and enjoyable environment.
Greenness
Maas points to greenness and vegetation as a pivotal element that MVRDV leverages toward sustainability and temperature control.
Climate change is the defining challenge of ours, and getting creative in the ways we manage and design around the built environment plays a huge role in averting the worst-case scenario, he says.
“Our in-house “planet” expert team works to create green roofs, green walls, and green streets within urban areas in very creative ways.”
One example is their proposal for La Serre d’lssy in Paris, where they rethought housing around the idea of sustainability, creating a vertical ‘micro village of irregularly stacked blocks, all wrapped in a greenhouse-like skin. This project demonstrates the principles of not only environmental sustainability but also social sustainability.
Another project in process now is the 2022 Floriade Horticultural Expo. This is an energy-efficient extension to the city center of Almere, that focuses on integrating the qualities of plants native to the Netherlands into residents’ daily lives. Incorporating plans that will allow the district to generate its own food and energy, Floriade 2022 will be a showcase both for the ways we can live with nature on a local scale and for the ways we can reduce our impact on the environment on a global scale.
MVRDV FLORIADE HORTICULTURAL EXPO
Eastern Market’s Glass Mural Complex
In Detroit, Maas and his firm are making progress on the innovative Glass Mural, a one-of-a-kind, four-story office and retail building located in Eastern Market at Russell and Division.
MVRDV GLASS MURAL EASTERN MARKET
The glass facades will be produced, in partnership with developer Firm Real Estate, using digital ceramic printing, a technique in which MVRDV has considerable experience in. They previously used the technology in their 2013 project Glass Farm, where an image of a typical Dutch farmhouse was enlarged and printed onto the exterior of a new glass building in the heart of the village of Schijndel, the Netherlands.
Maas concludes ‘With this building we want to enhance the identity of the Eastern Market. We want to preserve art and memory and at the same time add something new, in the spirit of the neighborhood, in a way that is playful and unexpected. We want to embrace the history, the present, and the future of the Eastern Market. Furthermore, we want to involve people and bring the community together.”
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